Refreshment

I really enjoyed last weekend. We headed up to a place called El Valle, which is a 2 hr drive from Panama city, in the interior, mountainous area of the country. Some friends of ours had a house up there and graciously opened it up for us to go to.

El Valle is very tranquil, pristine, and surrounded by fresh wilderness. It is a refuge from the hustle and bustle of living in Panama City. When you are there, you cant help but relax. I felt like my soul especially needed some of that refreshment and a break from everyday busy life.
God encouraged me so much over the weekend. Simply through the hospitality of our friends, the beautiful mountains and foliage, and also His Word. One verse that specifically came alive for me was Zeph 3:17, which says,

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

This verse connected with my heart for a couple reasons. Firstly, it was a great reminded that he is mighty to save. He is able to save me, students on campus, and people in the world. I needed to hear that after having a long week on campus, where it seemed like nothing really happened and students were indifferent towards spiritual things. The second thing was that He delights in me and quiets me with his love. I felt very precious, treasured and secure. It reminded me of how a father and small daughter relate with eachother. She feels so free to be herself as she knows her dad loves her, and feels safe when she's around Him. God wants me to have this close relationship with Him too. To put it simply, I felt very loved.

On Sat, we also went to the beach. This picture hopefully captures a small part of the tranquillity and peacefulness of the interior of Panama:

On a side note, this quote summarizes what its like outside right now: "its raining dragons and horses." -Jose Andres
(this quote is the Panamanian equivalent of its 'raining cats and dogs.')
Its been pouring outside non-stop for about 3 days now and things are pretty wet.

MORE Dominican photos...

I've posted yet some more pictures from the Dominican Republic Project on facebook. And, for those of you who arent facebookers, here are the links to see the albums:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=178444&l=c4833&id=618945586
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=178548&l=636ba&id=618945586
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=178551&l=0a468&id=618945586

Enjoy!

Highlights of the Dominican trip...in pictures.

1. Marquis, & Isaac's first time on a plane. Smile, Laura!

2. The Dominican Republic Flag.

3. At the entrance of Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo - our campus for the week!

4. Showing the Jesus film to 250 people in a poor Santo Domingo neighbourhood. Lorenzo is sharing his testimony in this picture

5. Lorenzo, Steve (not pictured here) and I evangelized in the Facultad de Artes all week. It was encouraging to see the transformation in Lorenzo over the week

6. Marjorie, a Dominican student I got to share the gospel with, and I

7. On Thurs night, we hosted a fiesta, complete with music and a few student testimonies. Laura is sharing her testimony here.

8. Me, Lorenzo, Juan Louis, Gleny and Steve - Juan and Gleny were two students our faculty team shared with

9. And finally...Our VE team: 7 Panamanian students (Marquis, Joanna, Isaac, Lorenzo, Laura and Abraham); 3 Panamanian staff (Oliver, Duby & Secondina); 6 Canadian STINTers (myself, Lindsey, Raquel, Juan Carlos, Steve and Derek) and 2 film crew (Selegna and Juan). Leyla and Prospero, the two Dominican staff members also joined us for this picture.